Beyond?

by Andur

  “Ohoho?” Now even the Great Shaman starts smiling.

  Of course! Even though Quinn has a bigger population than Nict, they have a much lower percentage of magicians due to generations of persecution. The magical bloodlines which survived till this day have to be extremely strong. After all they are still creating magicians even though they should have been dwindled down into nothingness.

  Every clan in Nict would welcome such children and their relatives with open arms. There will surely be social problems, but I doubt that we are speaking about outrageous numbers. We are weakening Quinn and gaining strength at the same time. Of course those individuals have to be taught first, but even a weak magician with only basic knowledge can earn his share.

  King Novak licks slowly over his lips. Obviously he is fighting for a decision. “I suppose... if I talk to the priests and announce a decree... we could banish the evil cursed ones and throw them out of the country instead of dirtying ourselves with them.”

  94. ~Uprising.~

  “Having a dream. Having a nightmare. Sleeping, being awake. Sometimes there is no difference.”

  -The goddess.

  Quinn, Capital-Palace

  Azir

  It took us some time, but the details of the contract are finally worked out and the papers are signed. Thankfully this assignment is over after we are done with the farewells.

  King Novak's servants brought lots of expensive foods and drinks into the conference room to celebrate the end of the negotiations.

  I am picking through the wonderful chocolate desserts at a separate table at the far end of the room. If this land wasn't so severe in handling magicians it would be my personal paradise. Their skills in making chocolate related sweets are top notch! Maybe I should abduct the cook and lock him up inside my kitchen?

  “Stop eating that stuff. Didn't you have enough already?” Stella interrupts my little flight on cloud number nine with her nagging voice.

  “Shush, woman! A man has to take the chance when he is offered a free treat.” I respond by filling my plate with yet another piece of chocolate. All of them are masterpieces which were foamed up and already crumble by simply touching them. The cook somehow managed to heat them on the inside, so when they break up a pool of hot chocolate flows onto the plate.

  “This... can be misunderstood. Please try to avoid saying such things in the presence of our parents.” Giana turns red. She and Leon are entertaining us with nice stories about the good points regarding her home country.

  Lucas, the Great Shaman and king Novak created their own personal group and are chatting silently in a corner of the room.

  The shaman's advisers, Ajax and queen Frey are still sitting at the conference table and talking about various matters.

  “Yes.” Stella tries to take the plate away from me, but I avoid her skilfully. “It's your fourteenth dessert! Sometimes you are behaving like a little child! You'll puke if you eat more of that stuff!”

  “I never puked because of eating chocolate.” Now she is making something up.

  “At least you'll get stomach-ache!” She replies.

  “Seriously?” I had pretty bad problems with my stomach after giving in to my desires, but I never connected it to eating too much. I simply figured that I was unlucky and got a bad piece of chocolate. “It's not that problematic. A simple healing spell solves the problem in most cases.”

  “That's not the right way to solve this issue! Not creating it in the first place is far better!” Stella reaches for the foamed up chocolate, but doesn't manage to finish the action.

  Gunshots from in front of the conference room interrupt her and the door bursts open. Several soldiers in colourful uniforms enter the room while others break through the windows at the same time.

  I immediately cast a simple inhibition field which should suppress any chemical combustion in the area. It is a fairly simple magic that doesn't cost much effort. Stopping the propellant inside the combustion chambers from igniting is even easier than suppressing a candle flame.

  The soldiers take positions throughout the room and aim their guns at us, but none of them pulls the trigger. They seem to be trained fairly well.

  “What's this supposed to mean!?” King Novak calls out with a red face. “Put down the weapons right this moment!”

  “They aren't going to listen.” A priest in very luxurious robes enters the room. “They are all loyal believers in our faith, unlike you and your family. You are collaborating with the Cursed!” He walks over to the table with the documents. “And since you signed the papers we have undeniable proof of your misguided actions.” The room is now filled with ten soldiers and the newly arrived priest.

  He has grey hair and his facial expression shows that he is used to authority. A long, grey beard shows that he must be past the prime of his age and there are quite a few wrinkles on his face.

  “Patre Tiamat. You! Don't you realize that our country needs help if we want to survive what's coming?” Queen Frey tries to stand up, but one of the soldiers pushes her back down.

  “You are simply not religious enough. I realized a while ago that the royal family isn't devoted enough.” The priest starts walking through the room. “Normally I would've never been able to return this country onto the right path.” He shakes the papers in his hand. “But with this we can show everyone that you were influenced by the cursed. It will be easy to take over from here.”

  “What do you mean?” King Novak pales. He seems to be totally surprised by this situation.

  “My followers already organised a revolt in front of the palace and secured a path to the main entrance.” Tiamat smirks. “We will bring you all in front of our faithful believers and after showing them the evidence” He raises the documents. “You'll be executed together with the cursed.” Spreading his hands he smiles and looks at the ceiling. “And after you are gone the rest of the palace will have no choice but to submit to us since the population will be on our side.”

  That would be unpleasant. I don't want to be executed. Is this guy nuts? I plunge my spoon into the chocolate foam in an attempt to take another bite. Unfortunately it's already gone. I kept eating during the whole display, so I load my plate with another portion. It's convenient to be ignored right now.

  “That'll cause a war with Nict and Dwem! Don't we have enough problems by now!?” Queen Frey stammers.

  The strange priest shrugs his shoulders arrogantly. “Our cities are safe from magic users. The inhibitors are running day and night, they can't touch us with their magic as long as we stay in our country. Hahahaha.”

  Hm. Yes. The inhibition field. Seems like they have a big, stationary version of the magic suppressing device in every city. It's very annoying to enter this field as a magician. The mana around us vibrates and makes it almost impossible to cast spells. Only very rudimentary and small spells are possible if you don't use a lot of effort. It's a good way to keep the damage which could be done by untrained magicians to a minimum.

  That is unless you find out the frequency of the scrambling device.

  Once you know the right frequency of the interfering waves, which are disturbing the mana, you can create an inverted wave. Applying the inverted wave to the mana which you are using to form a spell results in the negation of both waves. Hence you can cast as much spells as you want. It's fairly easy as long as the frequency of the scrambler doesn't change too fast.

  “You! You cursed monster! Don't ignore me when I am speaking.” The priest points at me, but I don't care and shove yet another spoon with chocolate into my mouth.

  Stella is hiding behind me and totally forgot about complaining, so I managed to eat yet another dessert.

  “Mou guys mould calm dowm.” I speak with a full mouth. There is no reason to be afraid. They are just normals and I dealt with their guns when they stormed into the room.

  The priest walks over and kicks the table with the desserts over. “YOU! Kill him! There are still enough of them to execute in front of t
he crowd!” He orders one of his soldiers, pointing at me.

  “No!” Stella hugs me from behind as the instructed soldier points his gun at my face. Nothing but a click is heard in the otherwise completely silent room.

  I have to force myself in order to avert my eyes from the chocolate which is spilled on the ground. “You shouldn't have done that!”

  The soldier in front of me checks his gun confusedly and I use his negligence. Enforcing my muscles I ram my spoon into his forehead and walk past him as he tilts backwards, taking the gun from his limp hands. Stella let go of me when I started moving.

  The others raise their guns and the clicking of malfunctioning guns fills the room. I point the acquired gun at the soldier who is closest to me and pull the trigger.

  All it takes is dispelling my suppressing spell in the area directly around me. A loud bang fills the room and the soldier's face disintegrates in a shower of blood, bone and tissue. The gun is using a big calibre and the effect is impressive!

  Before the others can move I raise my free hand and wave it casually at them. Five soldiers are lifted into the air and thrown into walls and furniture. The unhealthy noises of breaking bones confirm that they are out of the game.

  The remaining three rebels draw knives and throw themselves at me, but they have normal strength and normal speed while I am able to use my magic relatively unhindered.

  Soldier one makes acquaintance with the gun in my hand, which I use as a club. It is a single shot model, but using it in this barbarous manner is also fine.

  He is wiped away like an insect and flies out of the window. Number two actually manages to ram his knife into my chest and I apply a small layer of mana above my skin to stop it. The blade breaks with a bright cling.

  While he is watching the blade of his knife bouncing away in a high arc with big, round eyes I grab his collar with the left and drop the gun to get a good grip on his belt.

  The last soldier watches me with an open mouth as I raise his companion above my head and bring him down on my knee, breaking him like a stick.

  Realizing that he is next in line he turns and runs towards the window. They used ropes to climb down from the upper floor. The last attacker grabs one of those ropes and starts hiking downwards as I am slowly following him.

  He is already five metres further downwards when I take a look out of the window. That's when he looks up and realizes that his escape route was poorly chosen. Smiling I wave at him and grab the rope. A little jerk is enough to snap it. I don't bother to watch his fall, turning around to face the room. This is the seventh floor and the soldier's scream is cut shortly after.

  On my way back to Stella I realize that I forgot the priest. What was his name? Tia... something? Whatever. He is looking like a frog as he is simply standing there with his mouth wide open.

  The problem is removed easily enough by grabbing him and tossing him out of the window. He doesn't even scream on his way down, so I can peacefully choose a fairly clean plate from the ground.

  Getting to my knees I search through the damaged desserts until I find one which wasn't totally destroyed. How could they do something as horrible as that. The cook must have put his soul into creating those easily crumbling pieces of fluffiness.

  I get up from my knees and close my eyes as I place a piece of this dream in my mouth. A few moments later I realize that the room is too silent and open them again.

  Everyone is watching me.

  “Is there a problem?”

  95. ~Abolition.~

  “You want to live in peace? Go and live a simple life.

  You want to be someone? Go and gain power.

  You want to be the Great Shaman? First learn to be humble.”

  -A simple truth.

  Quinn, Capital-Palace

  Stella

  “Is there a problem?” Azir surveys the room with a doubtful expression, totally oblivious to what he just did.

  “Hm. Hm. As expected from someone whom I regard as my equal. Simply applying an inverted wave as countermeasure is simple, but effective.” The Great Shaman nods and shakes his totem to show his approval.

  “You... cast magic. Isn't... there a... counter-field up?” King Novak looks around, letting his eyes wander over the crushed soldiers. He pays extra attention to the guy who had his spine broken by Azir. The body is still lying in the middle of the room, folded backwards at an angle of ninety degrees.

  “Dad, we have to do something about the crowd in front of the palace! Didn't Tiamat say that he organized a revolt?” Giana is the first of the royal family who regains her wits. “We have to stop them before someone gets hurt.”

  “You... are right.” The old man rises from his chair and is immediately assisted by his sons, Leon and Ajax. King Novak loses no time and leaves the room with fast and purposeful steps. Queen Frey follows them with Lucas and the Great Shaman on her heels. The shaman's advisers also join the fray.

  Lucas gestures us to follow him on his way out and I follow my father without question.

  I am already halfway down the hallway when I realize that the most important person isn't following us. Returning to the conference room I find Azir on his knees, sorting through the chocolate desserts on the ground.

  “Are you serious!?” I call out from behind him, which surprises him.

  He almost drops one of the better looking pieces and turns around with a questioning expression on his face.

  He is serious! I hurry to the table and grab one of the baskets which were used to carry the desserts. Then I sort the pile of better looking pieces into the basket and shove it towards Azir's chest. He has no choice but to grab the basket as I let go. “You are simply a lost case. Eat until you burst open.” Grabbing a few more of the fluffy chocolate foams, I pile them up in the basket. “Eat until you get sick. You could have told me that you aren't affected by the field.” I pull him to his feet and guide him out of the room. “I was frightened to death!”

  “But there are still some good ones.” He complains. “And sorry... the answer was so obvious. I thought you realized it yourselves.”

  “Since your magic seems to work you can abduct the cook later. Now we need you to deal with the crowd in front of the palace.” There is a revolt because of us coming to Quinn. Of course we were invited, but we just agreed to help them for giving us their magicians. It's a wicked trade which can be seen as both good and evil at the same time. “And how are we supposed to find out. You can't simply assume that I am good with all that physics stuff.”

  “Chuck realized what I did though.” Azir mumbles while carrying the basket with both hands.

  “The Great Shaman is a genius among geniuses among his people! Don't use him as a means of measurement!” I bark at him. What did I do wrong to not realize this quirky side of his character.

  No, I always knew that Azir isn't quite normal in his head! It just wasn't that problematic while he was in school!

  Now I realize that his childish outbursts from time to time were never a matter of his youth. Azir always lived with the memories of an adult. His childish acts are a part of his character. It simply wasn't a problem while we were in school. Beating up the vixens and other people who offended him didn't seem as bad. Probably his mother drilled it into him not to kill the members of other clans, causing a war by doing so. Being faced with people who aren't related to the country, or people who caused serious harm to him, he has no issue with killing them. I have to accept that, though I really have to find a way to stop him from eating from the floor. It's inappropriate!

  Finally we reach the end of the long hallway and step onto a large, luxurious balcony. The view of the capital is excellent. Only now I realize how big Quinn's capital is. The population must number in the millions and rival Nict's capital at the very least, if not surpass it.

  “There must be thousands!” Leon calls out shocked while watching the crowd which is on the plaza in front of the palace. The situation is still under control, but the soldiers who ar
e guarding the palace seem to have problems with holding back the people. “If something goes wrong we'll have a civil war on our hands!”

  I read the signboards which proclaim 'Don't negotiate with the Cursed!' and 'Put Cursed where they belong!'. There are also some even more offensive texts and I get the urge to throw a few very deadly spells at those people.

  Ajax gestures at the people and a few destroyed shops at the plaza. There are always individuals who use such opportunities to steal and destroy. “But how can we disperse this? Look at them, it has gotten out of hand. We need to call the army.”

  “Or we use the chance to drill some respect for mages into them. It would be the perfect opportunity to make a statement and show them the other side of the coin. It would also serve as a great show to persuade those who are hiding their nature to reveal themselves.” Lucas turns around and looks at me... or more likely someone behind me.

  The others start whispering with doubtful expressions. “Are you sure?” “We can't let that maniac loose on civilians.” “Look at him, you wouldn't even suspect that he just slaughtered eleven people.” “We would need someone intimidating anyway...” “This won't work.” “He would kill them.”

  I am almost frightened to do so, but I still turn around to take a look at my husband. He is hovering half a metre in the air, looking above our shoulders and eating his desserts. He is holding the basket in his right while eating with his left. The fingers are sullied with molten chocolate. Likewise is his mouth.

  Azir is looking at the scene with a childlike innocence until he realizes that we are watching him. Though the eyes of the royal family of Quinn are glued to his feet which are dangling freely in the air. “Would you guys stop doing that? It's creeping me out. I am fairly certain that I did nothing wrong this time. Neither socially nor otherwise!”